Angels in Disguise
by Aelthar101
Summary: Small ripples in the water sometimes turn into big waves. When the woman Matt loves is attacked one night, no one ever could have known that it would lead to one of the biggest criminal rings in New York City. Matt Murdock fights for Jane, but will he lose her along the way? Established Matt/oc. Follows the TV show on violence. Mattxofc
1. Chapter 1

Everything happens for a reason. Yet there are times in which reason is impossible to find. Times when everything is backward, when evil seems to be the only glimpse of reason there is. So this story starts, on the night when my life was turned upside down, when reason abandoned me and I was left with the cold hard face of night when my life changed forever.

* * *

 _"LAST CALL!"_

 _"Thanks Sarah," Jane said laughing, as the last few drunks jumped at the sudden noise. Sarah only waved her away._

 _"Go home Jane! You've been here since six!"_

 _Jane looked at the clock cringing at the time. It was now half past three, way beyond the time any sane person should still be awake, let alone working at a stinking bar. She brushed her hair away from her face trying to convince it back into its loose ponytail. Sarah looked at the girl in sympathy._

 _"Come on," Sarah said taking the tray of glasses Jane was trying to organize back in the racks, "I can close up here, you head on home tell Matt I said hello."_

 _Jane wasn't one to argue. She had been up since five o'clock that morning working, studying, she hand't been home all day long. She gave Sarah a quick hug._

 _"Thank you!" she called running to the back room to pick up her purse, "I owe you!"_

 _Sarah rolled her eyes smiling as she put away the rest of the glasses, "Just go home and make sweet sweet love to McDreamy and get some sleep!"_

 _Sarah turned to look towards Jane as she walked into the main part of the bar and laughed when she noticed the very dark blush flushing Jane's cheeks._

 _"I'm just picking on you," she said still laughing slightly, Jane was always very private about that aspect of her life and Sarah loved to pick on her._

 _"Hey!" Sarah called just as Jane was about to leave, "take the trash out before you go, its on your way and I hate doing it."_

 _Jane just smiled and grabbed the enormous trash bag Sarah was holding out to her._

 _"Only because I love you," Jane mumbled as she dragged the bag down the back hallway of the bar and shoved the door open. A faint buzzing rattled her bag. She stopped dragging the trash out the door and frantically began searching through her large shoulder bag looking for her phone._

 _"Come on!" she muttered, she didn't have that many rings left before the call would go to voicemail. Her slim fingers suddenly grasped the slim phone on the bottom of her bag next to a few tubes of chap stick._

 _She yanked out the phone and frantically pressed the answer button, "Matt!" she exclaimed._

 _"Janie!" answered the voice on the other side, "Are you still working?"_

 _"Nah," Jane answered picking up the trash bag and dragging it towards the dumpster in the alley, "Sarah's letting me go home early, apparently I look like I needed a break."_

 _"Well you do work too hard," Matt answered._

 _Jane laughed, "Coming from the person who I am sure is just leaving the library now."_

 _Matt chuckled and Jane smiled at the sound, the past few weeks that he had been interning had been very stressful. It was good to hear him laugh again._

 _"I can't argue with that," he said, "I'm walking by the bar you want me to pick you up? See if we can't find something to eat before we head home."_

 _Jane thought on it for a moment as she swung the large bag into the gaping mouth of the dumpster. She turned and was about to leave the alley when something caught her eye. She couldn't put her finger on what it was that made her pause, she thought she had seen a shadow move. She looked closer into the corner of the alley, against some crates, surely there had been something that moved, yet when nothing did, she shook her head. It must have been a rat._

 _"Jane?" Matt asked, slightly worried at the silence._

 _"Sorry," she said looking once more towards the crates before turning to leave, "I have some leftover cheesecake I was kind of hoping to-"_

 _A rough hand shoved itself over her mouth cutting of the scream she was about to release as a very strong arm held her in a vice like grip. The phone dropped to the ground, forgotten, as Jane squirmed to get loose._

 _"Jane?" she heard Matt call, she did her best to scream, make any sound that she could but the man had a firm hold on her, "Jane? Are you ok?"_

 _Jane grunted as she thrust her elbow back, jabbing the man that was holding her square in the gut. She could hear his sharp intake of breath and could feel his hold loosen just enough for her to squirm loose._

 _"Ma-"_

 _Another set of hands grabbed her and threw her against the ground. Her head hit the rough asphalt with a resonating thunk, cutting off anything she was going to say. Everything was blurry, Jane could just barely make out the shapes of two men, one kneeling on the ground clutching his stomach and one towering over her holding something that Jane really hoped was not a knife. Jane kicked her feet out hoping to catch the knife man off guard, but it was no use, her movements were too sluggish and the man was too large. He laughed as he sent a well aimed kick straight to her stomach._

 _Jane rolled over. Any air that she had to scream was gone, her body trying desperately to choke in some oxygen, but her muscles would not allow it. Her side was now exploding in pain, matching the throbbing ache in her head._

 _"Aw man, he said no damaged goods!" the man on the ground wheezed._

 _"Its not_ that _damaged," knife man said, shoving Jane over with his foot, " besides, have you every actually kicked a woman?" he asked sadistically, "It's really quite fun."_

 _"Aw come on man, it's getting late, I just want to get paid."_

 _"Don't be such a pussy," knife man said._

 _Jane struggled to get closer to the bar, hoping that by some miracle someone would hear her yell over the thumping music._

 _Knife man noticed her movement and dragged her by her feet away from the open door. He kicked her square in the stomach, once, twice, three times. Each kick felt as if his foot was going straight through her. Jane could feel each of her ribs crack, and break, she could feel her organs bruise, but she was powerless to stop it. Black dots were swimming through her vision, taunting her with sweet oblivion that would take her from this wretched place._

 _"That's enough," the first man said, "nobody is going to pay for this mess!"_

 _"They will if the product is good!" knife man sneered._

 _The first man threw up his hands in frustration but didn't make another move to save Jane. It was as if he knew that knife man would do whatever it was he wanted. The first man would just take whatever was left._

 _Knife man leaned down and grabbed Jane's face pulling it towards his own, "She's not too bad to look at, but lookin' is just one thing there sweetheart, you have to be able to do the job."_

 _He shoved her face away and Jane's head thudded against the ground again. Jane fought to keep her eyes open, not wanting to see what was about to happen, but dreading the thought of what would if she were to loose all consciousness. The cold steel of a blade chilled her to the core as knife man slowly split her shirt open. The cold night air raised gooseflesh on her skin and even in the horror of what Jane was sure was about to happen, all that could cross her mind at that moment was the fact that her favorite shirt was now being ruined._

 _She felt rather than heard something in the alley change. Knife man was suddenly pulled off her. She couldn't move, surely this was the end, she was finished, God had sent her an angel to free her and take her away._

 _"Jane!" a familiar voice called out, "JANE!" she felt strong arms gently lift her from the ground but their was no malice in these arms, they were strong and unyielding, yet they held her with such care. Cradling her. She wanted to fight, wanted to get away from this strange man. But that voice...the voice, she knew._

 _"Janie, stay with me ok!" the voice cried, breaking. Jane, in her semiconscious state couldn't help but begin to feel fear. This voice never broke. Her guardian angel, was scared._

* * *

Seven Months Later

* * *

"Foggy, Foggy, Foggy, Foggy,"

Matt jerked his hand toward the nightstand, the automated voice was echoing in the apartment. It was way too early for any sort of noise.

"Yeah, yeah," he mumbled fumbling for his phone pressing the screen at random just trying to turn the sound off.

"Hello," he murmured once the phone had beeped, signaling the call had been connected.

" _Good morning sunshine_!" Foggy's voice chirped echoing through the room almost louder than the ring had. Matt cringed as he picked up the phone making sure the speaker was off before he answered the annoyingly cheerful voice.

"What time is it?" has asked, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes.

" _Half past get the hell up. Let's go, we gotta meet the real estate agent in 45."_

Matt sighed, he had forgotten all about the real estate agent, he turned his head toward the slumbering form next to him, quiet as he listened carefully, trying to detect any sign that he had disturbed her with the phone call. She was still dead asleep, curled up next to him, her hand resting on his chest. Foggy seemed to sense his concern.

" _How is she?"_

Matt sighed again, the she in question, Jane, had been doing fine, until he startled her last night when he came home after a brief rendezvous in the shipyards. She had been listing to music when he had come in and had not noticed his presence until he put a hand on her shoulder, which triggered a panic attack that took him nearly an hour to calm her back down enough to attempt going to sleep.

"It was a rough night," Matt said tiredly carefully sitting up making sure he did not wake her up.

" _Is she ok?"_ Foggy asked, knowing exactly how rough a night could have been for Jane after the incident.

Matt stood up, tiredly walking to the kitchen to start a fresh pot of coffee, Jane was still dead asleep and there was going to be nothing that would wake her save for a fresh cup of coffee.

"She's healing," Matt answered, his attention never leaving that of the bedroom, "Its just going to take some time."

Foggy cleared his throat, " _Well, uh, just try to make sure you're there for the showing, Jane can come too."_

Matt smiled, "I'll be there I promise, after I drop Jane off at work."

Foggy, happy with this answer, cheered up, " _All right, shake it. I gotta go bribe a cop._ "

"Ah!" Matt interjected in disbelief at the things his friend was willing to say, "Foggy!"

 _"Kidding, NSA, if you're listening."_

Matt chuckled.

" _But seriously, yeah, I gotta go bribe a cop."_

With that, Foggy hung up. Matt set the phone down on the edge of the counter, and pulled Jane's mug from the sink. The fact that it was in the sink showed just how much she was drinking coffee, trying to stay awake rather than sleep. Matt sighed, he knew it was his fault, that she was not getting enough sleep. She was fine if he was home, but the past few nights he had been away, dealing with the small trafficking ring in Hell's Kitchen, which meant that Jane was left to try and sleep in a big empty apartment.

The smell of coffee slowly began to fill the kitchen bringing Matt out of his brooding, this was a new day. He set her cup on the counter and turned to the fridge hoping that she hand't moved the creamer again. Jane was generally decent about keeping the house the same but sometimes-

"Yup" Matt muttered as he opened the fridge.

A blackberry and chocolate tart of some kind was taking up most of the shelf in the fridge as well as a small cheesecake. She had been busy last night, and now the fridge was in all disarray. He gave up on his search for the creamer, the coffee was done, and it was getting late, he still had to wake Jane up.

He poured the coffee, added the usual four scoops of sugar and hoped she wouldn't notice the lack of creamer right off the bat.

Matt walked back to the bedroom armed with the steaming cup of coffee. He paused in the doorway and waited, listening carefully to every minute sound that Jane made. She was so peaceful, her petite body spread over the bed subconsciously moving toward the empty warm space that Matt had been occupying. He entered the room and carefully sat on the edge of the bed, holding the cup of coffee by her nose.

"Mmmphm" she grumbled as she slowly wrenched her eyes open.

"Morning love," Matt said bending down to kiss her forehead.

Jane sighed as she stretched shifting the blankets around her, Matt was relieved, as he was every morning since she had healed, that he no longer heard the creaking of her bones. She was physically sound once more.

"It's too early," Jane mumbled as she sat up and took the coffee from Matt taking a deep sniff of the bitter aroma.

Matt smiled and hit his alarm clock.

"Eleven thirteen."

"Oh shit!" yelled Jane leaping from the bed she handed the coffee to Matt now wide awake and rushed to the bathroom frantically pulling her hair into a bun.

Matt smiled as he himself began to get ready for the day.

"I did no' wan' o lee' ah' ahe'" she tried to explain while brushing her teeth, she spit into the sink.

"I had a huge cake to finish today, by six!" She explained rushing through the room putting on her clothes bit by bit.

Matt was calmly tying his tie when she started pulling on her boots.

"What day is it today?" she asked.

Matt smiled again, "Thursday."

"Don't you have that thing with Foggy?"

Matt nodded, picking up his briefcase, "We're meeting with the realtor on that last property she had for us."

Jane sighed picking up her bag and her coffee and moved towards the door waiting for Matt.

"I hope its better than that last place you were shown, that was a mess!"

Matt chuckled, "It wasn't ideal but then again we can't really afford to be that picky. Whatever this next place is like we have to take it."

"Hey," Jane said stopping Matt as he walked out of the door, she gave him a big kiss and smiled, "I think what you and Foggy are doing is really great, don't forget why you're doing it."

Matt grinned, "Why to be rich and famous lawyers of course!"

Jane just shook her head and locked the apartment behind her, "Matt I think I'm in love with a fool."

Matt's grin only grew wider and he turned his head towards her, "Is he bigger than me?"

Jane only smacked him lightly on the arm and laughed. Matt missed this, seeing Jane at ease, with a ready joke on hand. Slowly but surely the old Jane was coming back. She would just need time.

Matt held out his arm, "Shall we milady?"

Jane took his arm and the two walked out into the bustling New York streets.

* * *

"You've got a reception area, a conference room, and two offices," the realtor explained walking Foggy through the office, "Corner suite has a view of the Hudson. You can flip a coin with your partner for it."

Matt chuckled walking through the door, "Uh, he can have the view."

The realtor turned suddenly at the new voice in the room. Foggy rolled his eyes, you could always count on Matt for a rather dramatic entrance.

"I'm so sorry," she said quickly trying to make up for her blunder, "I didn't mean to-"

"Of course not," Matt said waving her concern away as he placed his briefcase in the corner of the room.

"Susan Harris," she said reaching her hand out for Matt to shake, "Midtown Property Solutions."

Matt knew the hand was there, he could hear her watch ticking as it moved closer to him, but out of principle of playing the blind man, he ignored it.

"Matt Murdock."

Susan looked towards her hand and her eyes suddenly widened as if she just now realized that blind men could not shake hands easily. She awkwardly brought her hand down and for lack of anything else to do, gave a rather embarrassed curtsy.

Foggy chuckled, "She just curtsied, it was adorable," Foggy couldn't help but smile at the blush that was again creeping onto the realtors face, the poor woman must feel like she had pulled the short straw on showing offices to the two of them.

Matt smiled, "Well, its nice to know that chivalry isn't dead."

Susan chuckled lightly, put at ease by Matt's easy going attitude.

"Susan," Matt said trying to bring the meeting back to the office, "Would you mind walking me around the space?"

"Of course!" she answered, "My pleasure."

She rushed over to offer her arm to Matt. Foggy followed the two in disbelief. He was not even trying and Matt had the woman hung on his every word.

"As I was telling your associate," she said walking Matt by the elbow around the room, "this office was barely touched by the incident, which is why it's on the market already. The neighbors weren't so lucky."

"The incident?" Matt asked, smiling at the choice of words, "Is that what we're calling it now?"

Susan nodded, "Well it sounds so much better than death and destructions raining from the sky, nearly wiping Hell's Kitchen off the map."

Matt nodded his approval, "Shorter too."

"I don't know," Foggy said looking out the window of the suite with the incredible view, "Owner figuring in the delightful view of cranes and scaffolding? Feels like we're getting pre-incident prices."

Susan turned to Foggy rather smugly, "They're a quarter of what they used to be. Hell's Kitchen is on the rebound, Mr. Nelson, and in eighteen months, you won't even be able to rent a broom closet at this price point."

Matt smiled, "We'll take it!"

Foggy scoffed flustered at the sudden approval from Matt, "Uh, we will _talk_ about it" he said holding a finger to the now very excited realtor, "because we're not sure we can afford even this palace, unless we make some changes to our current clientele policies."

Matt turned back to the realtor who was standing with a pen outreached towards the two waiting to sign this rather desolate office.

"My partner and I are having some disagreements over the direction of Nelson and Murdock. I believe we're here to defend the innocent-"

"And I believe the innocent includes everyone not yet convicted of a crime," Foggy explained trying to be as charming as possible, "You know, as the law states."

Matt smiled, "He tends to use fancy terminology."

The realtor just smiled and nodded, hoping that the two would soon make a decision, she had eight more showings that afternoon and this one was taking longer than she had anticipated.

Foggy rolled his eyes again turning back to the rather disinterested realtor, "And my partner fails to recognize that, as defense attorneys, we're never gonna be able to keep the lights on, waiting on a horde of innocent souls to stumble into our loving arms."

Matt smiled, fiddling with his cane, he could sense the realtors urgency to have the office settled, "At this point I'd settle for just one."

Foggy, as if for the first time, also noticed the rather frustrated realtor, and smiled awkwardly.

"We'll take it."

" _So Foggy agreed? He let you take this one?"_

"He didn't really have a choice, we're both fed up with looking at these places."

Jane laughed, Matt smiled at light sound coming through the phone. It had been a while since he had heard that sound.

"How's work?" he asked.

 _"Uhmmm,"_ Jane sighed, Matt could see her running her hand through her hair, the thought of her slightly frazzled state as she sat in the middle of a bakery with several cakes around her made him smile.

" _I have two cakes started, one is a wedding cake, I've done all the piping I just need too-"_

Matt was listening, happy that Jane sounded so excited with her work again, but something else had caught his attention. Foggy had gotten a call, no doubt from the police officer he had bribed earlier that day, Foggy was never one to get numerous calls.

"Jane," Matt said quietly, "I think we have a client."

" _Matt that's great! New office now a client!"_

Matt smiled, then heard Foggy hang up the phone and rush into Matt's office.

"I have to go now Jane, it might be a late night are you-"

" _I'm fine! There's a lot of work I can finish up here, Tom and Bridget are still working here as well, I'll be fine. I'll see you when you're done with your client."_

Just the way she said client made Matt smile, he and Foggy were finally doing something.

"I love you," Matt said ignoring Foggy's impatient twitching by the door, "I'll let you know when I'm on my way home."

" _Love you too Matt."_

Matt set his phone on his desk and turned to Foggy waiting for the news.

"Well?"

"Homicide," Foggy answered all but pulling Matt out the door, "Female suspect found at the scene."

"Has she been charged yet?" Matt asked putting his jacket on and following Foggy out the door.

"Assistant DA hans't made the call yet."

Matt nodded as the two rushed towards the police station which conveniently enough was only a block and a half away from the office.

"Definitely qualifies as interesting,"

Foggy laughed, "Oh yeah Brett can deliver."

"Do you have a name on the suspect?" Matt asked his eyebrows raised at Foggy's youthful glee at finally having a case.

"Yeah, uh," Foggy looked down at his notes as the two climb the steps into the police station, "Page. Karen Page."

* * *

Jane stood up, stretching her back with a groan. She had been sitting in front of this cake for three hours. It was going to a blushing young bride who had been very particular about the design of the cake. While at first Jane had been reluctant at the scope of the project, she had to admit the end result was beautiful. Delicate floral patterns covered each layer of the cake and at the center of each design stood a bouquet of carefully crafted sugar roses, calla lily and violets.

"Lookin' good there Miller."

Jane nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Geeze Tommy, you scared the shit out of me!" she yelled punching him lightly on the shoulder.

Tommy chuckled making Jane smile, she could not be mad at the man ever. He was barley taller than her petite five three frame, and was such a portly fellow that it was really no wonder he owned a cake shop. Tommy pulled down the baseball cap he always wore. The man was bald, by choice, yet he always covered his head.

"Listen kid," he said sitting down next to Jane, "My friend is the executive pastry chef at a rather, well," Tommy scoffed, "He's the executive pastry chef at Per Se. His soux chef, is leaving next week to go on maternity leave for at least the next year. I told him I knew someone who could fill the job."

"Tommy," Jane said laughing as she stood up to put her cake away, "I decorate cakes for a living, Pre Se is a little bit fancier than that."

Tommy scoffed, "Come on Jane, we both know you can do more than cakes. Listen," he held up his hand cutting off her rebuttal, "It's just an interview, go talk with him, make some delicious desserts, I told him you're a little rusty but you're worth the investment."

There was a quiet knock on the door, Tommy stood up to go answer it, "Just promise me you'll at least sleep on it ok?"

Jane nodded, though at that moment, she had absolutely no intention of doing so. She wheeled her cake into the cooler, five layers of serious wedding cake was no easy feat to carry.

When she walked back into the kitchen she was met with a sight that brightened her entire day.

"Hey Matt!" she called running toward Matt who was smiling equally as big.

He pulled her close and kissed her gently on the forehead, "Sorry I'm so late, Foggy and I had to throw a couple ideas back and forth."

"Its fine," she said picking up her bag and hastily clearing away the last of her bits of frosting and frosting bags.

She went to join Matt by the door.

"Think about it ok Jane?" Tommy said as led the two out of the bakery, "And get some sleep we have a slow day tomorrow, take a personal day, do something fun alright? Have a good night kids."

Jane waved to Tommy as the two walked arm in arm back to their apartment.

"Did you take the case?" Jane asked in a somewhat teasing tone, mimicking the tone of some private eye on a t.v show.

Matt chuckled, pulling her closer as a group of rowdy students walked by, "Yeah we took the case," Matt sighed.

Jane looked up at Matt, "What's wrong?"

Matt shook his head, "Something just seems off about this whole case."

"What's the charge?" Jane asked, it had been a long time since she was in law school, but nothing was forgotten.

"Thats the thing," Matt said, leading Jane into their apartment building, "There is no charge, not yet. The client was arrested as the sole suspect for a murder."

"Well," Jane said unlocking their door, "They're just collecting the rest of the evidence, making sure everything is solid before they charge.

"No they have all the evidence they need," Matt countered putting his cane against the wall, "They only have 24 hours, she should have been charged with _something_."

"Maybe she's not telling you something," Jane added, "Maybe the charge is a little bit bigger than you thought."

Matt nodded, grabbing leftovers from the fridge. Jane had already gone into the bedroom Matt could hear her dropping her clothes on the floor. He smiled, Jane was not a messy person, in fact, having worked in a kitchen, she was generally very particular about how things were put away, save for the occasional misplacing of the creamer. But Jane would never put her clothes in the hamper.

"You know," she called from the bedroom, coming out in sweatpants and from what Matt could tell one of his shirts, "They may not want this to go to trial."

Matt's brows furrowed, "What do you mean?"

"Well," Jane started, stealing the piece of pizza he was eating and taking a bite, "If they charge the suspect, and it goes to trial, there is going to be a lot of media attention. Maybe this woman is involved in something bigger than just a murder."

Jane jumped onto the counter sitting in front of Matt, "Quite honestly I haven't even looked at the case and I smell cover up."

Matt smiled and kissed her gently on the lips, "You know," he said huskily, "You would have made a good lawyer."

Jane snorted in a rather undignified manner, "No," she giggled, "I would have made a _great_ lawyer. But-"

She kissed Matt again and smiled, "who would feed you and Foggy?"

"Is that right?" Matt asked.

"Uh huh," Jane teased kissing him again, "You'd be hopeless."

Matt chuckled as she trotted to the bedroom, his head tilted towards her footsteps. He had come close to loosing her once, and knew without a doubt, he would be absolutely hopeless without her in his life.


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow! I had absolutely no idea that this story would be such a hit so quickly! Thank you to everyone who left a review! ZabuzasGirl, x XRoweenaJAugustineX x, AngilLOVE3, LovingAnything, Superdani4Ever, and MainlyMAddision, your reviews helped me fight through my writers block, with that being said, I am so sorry this took me so long to upload! But here it is and I hope to have the next episode up soon. If you haven't already checked out the trailer for this story please do and let me know what you think! I hope you like this chapter, I've tried to stay as true to the characters as I can and I hope that Jane brings out a realistic side to Matt. Let me know how I did! And as always, please enjoy.**

* * *

"Foggy, Foggy, Foggy."

Matt groaned, this was the second time in as many days, that he had been woken up by Foggy. And what could only be described as a growl from his left showed that Jane was not appreciative of the early wake up call either.

"Make it stop!" she grumbled.

Matt grabbed the phone and angrily stabbed the screen.

Jane pulled the pillow around her head trying desperately to fall back asleep. She needed to stop with these late nights, or have a serious talk with Foggy about when it was ok to call.

Matt shot up in the bed, "What?!"

Jane sighed, her wish of falling back to sleep was now in tatters, it was never going to happen. She eased out of bed cringing at the chilly air. It was nice that Matt had such a great deal on the apartment, but it would have been nicer if the landlord wasn't so lax when it came to fixing the heat in the building.

She pulled a sweatshirt over her head, trying her best to ignore Matt's phone call with Foggy, it wasn't good whatever it was about. The giant sweatshirt pooled around her, she looked down at the logo. Oh. It was Matts.

She shuffled into the kitchen, the giant billboard sent a soft glow throughout the apartment, gently illuminating every corner. Jane opened the fridge and pulled out some ice cream. It was eleven o'clock at night. She had a feeling it would be a long night.

Matt had finished his phone call and was now hurriedly getting dressed muttering to himself. It was never something he would openly admit, but when Matt was stressed, he would always talk to himself, very quietly, and never in public. Jane smiled, it was something just she was privy to.

"Everything ok?" she asked flipping the omelet on the pan.

"Well you were right," Matt called.

Jane figured now was a good time to bite her tongue from replying that she usually was.

"This is a cover up."

A giant thunk followed by an "OW!" in the bedroom caused Jane to look up somewhat worriedly.

Matt came out of the bedroom rubbing his hand on his head, "Our suspect was almost killed in her cell last night, Foggy and I are going to get her released."

"Is she ok?" Jane asked brows furrowed.

This was not just the run of the mill cover up, whatever this suspect was involved in was huge.

"She's alive at least," Matt said coming out of the bedroom straightening his tie.

"Foggy and I are going over now to get her released, if worse comes to worse we can get her released into our custody, if they refuse our argument."

Jane stood up and straightened his hair and kissed him, "Give them hell!"

Matt nodded, slightly distracted, already thinking of exactly how he was going to get his client out of the ridiculous excuse of a secure jail. He hurried out of the apartment, his briefcase in one hand, cane in the other.

Jane shook her head, the cane was just for show, Matt could maneuver around the city just fine without his cane. She slid off the counter put the carton of ice cream back in the freezer, pausing as she looked at the fridge. Looking at the clock once more did confirm that it was eleven thirty; it was too late to start baking. But then again, Matt wasn't going to be home for a while.

She sighed and began pulling out ingredients, not really paying attention to what it was exactly that she was preparing for until the counter was covered with various produce from the fridge and flour and everything else from the cupboards.

"Lemon Meringue," Jane muttered to herself, "alrighty then."

Jane quickly set about organizing her ingredients and mixing them together. She started with the crust immediately comforted by the familiar process of her old recipe. In school, while she was training, she had made countless pies and pastries just to get her own perfect dough. It was good that she had such loyal taste testers as Matt and Foggy, they certainly didn't mind when she practiced at home.

In what seemed like no time at all Jane was wiping down the counter while the pie did its final few minutes in the over. She watched it carefully making sure that the meringue came out just right. She pulled it from the oven and smiled to herself.

"Nope Janie," she murmured to the empty apartment, "You haven't lost your touch."

She set the pie to cool, poured herself a small glass of wine and settled herself on the couch. She had missed cooking, and being in the kitchen. Decorating cakes was one thing, but if Jane was to be honest with herself, it was rather monotonous after a while. There was no rush, no excitement, just making sure she met her deadline. Ever since the accident, Jane shuddered and pulled Matt's sweatshirt tighter around her small frame as her thoughts jolted back to that night.

Jane sighed and took a long sip of her wine. She needed a change, and there was no doubt that she missed cooking. Maybe she would take Tommy up on his offer, after all, it was just a temporary job, it wasn't like it would be a huge commitment, at most about a month. What harm could come of covering a sous chef's maternity leave?

* * *

Karen couldn't help but star as Matt deftly worked his key into the lock on his apartment building. She had already had to remind herself several times in the walk from his office that Matt was in fact blind.

"Karen?"

She jerked her head towards Matt ready to apologize for staring.

"Are you hungry?" he asked opening the building door, "I'm not sure what I have as far as food, but Jane was awake when I left so I'm sure she has something."

"I-I'm sorry, Jane?"

Matt smiled, "Jane is my girlfriend."

Karen suddenly felt nervous, it was one thing to sleep on a couch of her lawyer, but now she felt like she was really beginning to be a nuisance.

Matt seemed to sense her discomfort.

"It's alright, the two of you will get on just fine."

Karen only nodded as she followed him up the stairs.

"I really don't mean to be a burden to anyone really its ok I can stay-"

"Please," Matt interrupted, " _I_ would feel better if you would stay with us, besides, I'm sure Jane already has a bed made for you."

Matt gave Karen a reassuring smile as he opened the door. Karen wasn't quite sure what she expected when Matt opened the door, and to her embarrassment, she was surprise at the light that flooded through the door.

"There you are!" a voice called from the apartment, "I was starting to get worried!"

Karen followed Matt through the threshold and was greeted by the sight of a warm and cozy apartment. A well worn couch and chairs made up the living room and a surprisingly well equipped kitchen made up the remainder of the open room of the apartment.

"You must be Karen!"

Karen turned towards the sound of the voice. A young woman stepped out of the kitchen and came to greet the two of them. She was petite. Her hair, which seemed to normally be extremely curly was worked into a simple braid, yet small curls had escaped to frame her face. Her large eyes were a deep brown and almost made her seem older than she really was.

"I'm sorry," Karen said, shaking her head, she was so out of sorts tonight, "you must be Jane?" she offered trying her best to smile.

"Please," Jane answered with a reassuring smile waving away Karen's unease.

It didn't pass Karen's notice that she seemed to project the same confident calm that Matt had shown earlier that day.

"I'm sure you're exhausted, did you eat? I can make something quick for you if you'd like."

Karen shook her head, "Uh no, I'm fine. Would you have a shirt I could borrow, maybe?" she asked sheepishly holding up the overly large shirt Foggy had lent her, "This one's a little wet and I'm a Helions fan."

Jane chuckled, "Don't tell Foggy. Let me grab something for you."

As she walked by Matt she kissed him on the check, "There's pie on the counter."

Matt smiled, kissed her forehead and followed the sounds of her footsteps as she went into the bedroom before he stood up and entered the kitchen.

"The bedroom's all set!" Jane called from the other room.

"Really, I can't put you out of your bedroom. I'll be just fine on the couch."

Matt laughed as he cut several slices of pie, "From what Jane tells me about the living room, that might not be true."

Karen, who had just now walked into the rest of the apartment noticed the large glowing billboard that was pointed directly into the apartment. It almost eliminated the need for lights at all.

"Holy shit!"

"It went up a year ago," Jane explained handing Karen a new shirt, "The co-op nearly rioted, some oversight from the developer's agreement. Upside is, nobody wanted it, and we got a corner apartment at a hell of a discount."

"Thank you," Karen said.

"Of course," Jane answered kindly.

Karen instantly felt at ease towards the whole situation. Matt and Jane just had a warm and welcoming air about them. It was impossible to feel uneasy around them.

"Well," Jane sighed, "It's almost twelve, I should see if Mary's back from her shift, _she'll_ eat my pie."

Matt chuckled as Jane walked by and kissed her on the forehead, "be careful," he whispered.

"I'll just be a minute," Jane called back as she opened the apartment door, "Please make yourself at home!"

Karen nodded as the door thudded shut. She should have felt more uneasy than she currently did given the circumstances that had brought her to the apartment, yet the hospitality that Matt and Jane had shown had at least postponed her terror.

"Can I ask a personal question?" she directed towards Matt who had begun filling two coffee mugs with water.

"I haven't always been blind."

Karen instantly blushed, "I guess that's what everyone wants to know."

"That or, 'How do you comb your hair?'" Matt chuckled.

"How do you comb your hair?"

"Honestly, you just hope for the best," Matt smirked, "besides if it looks bad enough at least I have Jane to fix it for me."

"How long have the two of you been together?"

Matt handed her the mug of water.

"Thank you," she murmured, watching him closely. His eyes couldn't see, but they still reflected every emotion that passed through him.

Matt smiled fondly, "It's been about two years. I met her in a bar near school. She has the most amazing laugh, you could hear it clear as day through a busy room."

He seemed lost for a moment in thought.

"Do you remember what it was like to-" Karen hesitated for a moment, "to see?"

Matt immediately returned to the present, "I, um"

He cleared his throat.

"Yes, I remember."

Karen shook her head, "I can't imagine what that must be like."

Matt chuckled again, yet there was very little mirth.

"You know, I'm supposed to say I don't miss it. That what they teach you in trauma recovery. Define yourself by what you have, value the differences, make no apologies for what you lack. And it's all true, for the most part but it doesn't change the fact that I'd give anything to see-"

He cleared his throat again, as if for a moment, he was struggling to speak. That moment passed in an instant.

"Do you mind if I ask you some questions now?"

Karen's stomach plummeted. The real world would only wait for so long.

* * *

The door closed softly, yet to Matt is seemed to echo in the silent apartment. He listened for a moment; Karen was gone. No doubt heading back to her apartment to retrieve the files she had stole from Union Allied.

He carefully shoved the blankets over making sure Jane was still covered. He sat up on the edge of the couch and rubbed his face tiredly. He hated leaving Jane like this, but if he didn't Karen would no doubt be killed by Union Allied. She wouldn't make it through the night. Jane stirred.

"Whats going on?" she asked sleepily, barely opening her eyes.

Matt sighed as he moved to change from his pajamas.

"Karen's gone," his gravelly voice answered, "probably heading back to her apartment to grab evidence."

Jane sat up rubbing the sleep from her eyes, "What are you doing?"

Matt cringed at the concern in her voice.

"Jane I-"

She shook her head, Matt could hear her hair shifting as she did so.

"No, no, its ok, really I understand," she said trying to reassure him, "she's going to need help, its just every time you leave I just- I wonder, I mean -"

Matt kneeled down in front of her, "Hey," he murmured holding his hand to her cheek, his heart shattered at the wetness his fingers felt trailing down her face.

"I'm sorry," he whispered resting his forehead against hers, "I wish I really wish that I didn't have to go, but Karen is in a lot of trouble and if I don't-"

Jane nodded, trying desperately to stem her tears, "I just wan't you to come back in one piece, ok?"

Matt smiled, "I can't always promise that, you know I might have a bump or a bruise here or there, but even if I have to drag myself through hell, I'll come back to you. Always."

He kissed her forehead, and stood up making his way towards the door that lead to the roof. Matt looked back one last time towards the couch where he knew Jane was sitting watching him carefully.

"I'll be back for breakfast, promise."

Jane nodded and watched as he slipped the mask to cover his face and ran into the night. It wasn't the first time Matt would leave her alone in the empty apartment to try and save the city and it certainly wouldn't be the last. There would be no sleeping for her until Matt came back. Her mind wasn't able to stop running with every possibility that something could go wrong and Matt was now the one in trouble.

She stood up and stretched. For once she didn't feel like cooking. The kitchen was spotless as it always was, as was the rest of the apartment. She couldn't even occupy herself with chores. A soft bing sounded from her bedroom. Jane startled at the sudden noise but almost instantly felt a surge of relief. There was only one person that could be trying to talk to her at this time of night.

Jane picked up her phone from her dresser and unlocked the screen.

"Jesus," she murmured looking at the clock.

3:00

She'd never be able to make it through a full day of work tomorrow, maybe she'd take a half day -

Another bing brought Jane back to why she was looking at her phone in the first place. She smiled as she looked at the short messages. He was never one for overly descriptive texts. She sat back on her bed, at least she would have something to do while she counted the hours before Matt came back.

ASDLKFJASDLKFJALSDKFJALSDKFJALSKDFJALSDKFJALSKDFJALSDKFJALSDKJ

The only reason that Jane knew she had fallen asleep was that something in the apartment had woken her up. She froze when a soft shuffling started again. Matt's trunk in the living room slammed shut with a loud bang.

"Shit" came a voice from the same direction.

Jane relaxed back into the soft mattress. It was only Matt. She may not have enhanced hearing like Matt, but Jane could tell my the careful steps he took walking into the bedroom that he was hurt.

The bed dipped as Matt eased himself onto it with a soft groan.

Jane rolled over, "You ok?" she murmured.

Matt sighed and reached out to pull her closer to him, "I'll live."

Jane wrapped her arm around his chest but jumped as he winced.

"Matt," she scolded.

"Please," he whined almost like a child, "I have had a _very_ long night and all I want to do right now is hold my very beautiful girlfriend in my arms and sleep for a very long time."

He paused waiting for her to relax back into his embrace, when she didn't he grumbled.

"Give me a few hours of sleep then you can doctor me all you want, I promise."

Jane rolled her eyes knowing that it was no use trying to argue and she curled herself carefully around his warm body, relaxing finally knowing that he was there to stay; there would be no more sudden dashes into the night.

Her eyelids grew heavy as she once again drifted back to sleep. Matt tightened his hold on her shoulders and rested his head against hers, breathing the subtle scent vanilla and lavender scent that was unique just to her.

"I love you," he murmured kissing her gently on the forehead.

Jane smiled as she fell asleep.

"I love you too."

* * *

"Here you go," Karen placed the steaming dish of lasagna on the rickety table.

Foggy was laughing as Jane playfully shoved Matt's shoulder for picking on her. Karen was enjoying seeing the more playful side of the two lawyers. It was good to be around laughter after everything that had happened the past few days.

"I know its not much in the way or repayment, and Jane I'm certain you could do much better, but it _is_ my grandmother's recipe and she said only make it on special occasions."

Jane laughed and shook her head, "Please," she scoffed, "I can _never_ compete with a grandmother's recipe."

Foggy groaned as he took a bite of the cheesy pasta, "You know," he mumbled around his food.

Jane rolled her eyes at his childish behavior.

"I'm not complaining," he continued after swallowing, "but you really should be thanking the nut in the mask."

"He's not a nut," Karen was quick to defend, "I mean, he's a little weird, maybe."

"We're just glad you're okay," Matt interrupted.

Jane's hand found his under the table and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Hear, hear!" Foggy said loudly lifting his mason jar of water as a toast.

Karen blushed, "Well if it weren't for you two, I'd still be in that cell."

Matt shook his head, "Job's easy when your client's innocent. All you did was tell the truth."

"Yeah but you listened," Karen pointed out.

Foggy swallowed another mouthful of lasagna, "Oh, and don't get us wrong, we're still gonna bill you. Just, as soon as we figure out how to make bills."

The group erupted into laughter.

"After seven years in Law School you would think that you two would have learned _something,"_ Jane teased.

Matt turned to her an impish grin lighting up his face, "Maybe if I wasn't so distracted all the time I would have passed bill writing class."

Jane rolled her eyes but kissed his foolish grin.

"Oh get a room you two," Foggy grumbled as Karen laughed.

"I-I did notice that you could use some help around here. And I owe you. Maybe I could clean the place up a bit."

Matt looked up from Jane, his arm still casually draped around her shoulders, "Is this place messy?"

Jane tired very hard to keep from laughing her head off as Foggy tried valiantly to defend his firm.

"Our firm, is _very_ prestigious and discerning, Miss Page. Do you have any prior experience hiding electrical cords," he said barely able to contain his laughter, "up in ceiling tiles?"

Jane laughed as Karen shook her head.

"Uh no," she answered, "but I'll work for free."

Matt laughed, "Yeah you're hired."

Foggy turned to Karen, eyes wide, "You just got hired!"

Jane looked around at their odd little gathering. It had been a very long time since they had been this happy. Yet there was a very small part of her that knew that with every good, eventually there would be something that brought it down. She was just hoping against hope that that would wait as long as possible.

* * *

Matt stood still as he let the sounds of the city wash over him, almost as if the more still he was, the easier it was to pick out each individual sound.

It was late, almost eleven o'clock. He had finished at the gym three hours ago but he could not shake the feeling that something, anything was about to happen. And so he found himself standing on top of an office building waiting until the last minute before he had to leave to grab Jane and take her home, just in case he was needed somewhere.

He sat listening intently to every sound that blew his way; a late night basketball game, a young couple bickering about where to eat, a dog walker making a late night run

"DADDY!"

Jane looked out the window as a car screeched past the window of the bakery. She rolled her eyes. Motor heads and their stupidly over modified cars. She looked at the clock, it was about that time when the all came out and revved their engines, trying to deafen the entire city. She stretched her arms over her head, it was almost time for Matt to come pick her up.

* * *

 **Its a slight cliffhanger I know, but please let me know what you think! If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, let me know and I will answer as much as I can in the next chapter!**

 **Thanks!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Let me know what you think!**

* * *

Hot sauce why was there hot sauce? Why was there so much sirens there were always sirens there was never a day gone by without fish why was there fish now fish and hot sauce was the hot sauce for the fish iron lots of iron thats all he could smell why was there so much iron it smell like-

A slight twinge began to blossom where was it coming from what did he land on ow it was getting bigger its not a twinge can't breath can't breath pain so much pain throbbing can't breathe can't breathe

Matt groaned as he rolled himself to face forward, his body exploding in pain. He could feel his already slight grasp of consciousness rapidly slipping away. He ripped off his mask in a desperate attempt to wrench any oxygen he could from the putrid air of the dumpster.

He was going to be a little late.

* * *

Jane sighed as she pressed the redial button again. This was the third time she had called.

"Come on, come on, come on," she mumbled as she jammed the phone closer to her ear as if that would make Matt answer his phone quicker.

"You ok kid?"

Jane turned startled at the sudden appearance of another human in the building.

"Uh yeah," she said pulling her phone away from her ear.

Who was she kidding? Matt always answered her calls on the first ring. Even in he was in a class her call would always go through, just in case for whatever reason, she needed him. The only reason he wasn't answering would be because -

"Matt's a little late tonight, is everything ok with you two?" Tommy asked looking at the young woman worriedly.

Tommy had been told that she was attacked a few months back, but no details beyond that had been shared. Not that he had needed any, just the fact that someone could be so horrible to attack such a good person as Jane. He had watched as the young woman had slowly come back to her usual upbeat and cheerful self, yet still, there was always that hidden anxiety that Matt seemed to be the only one to calm.

"Yeah, he's just uh.." Jane grappled for a suitable excuse, "He's working late, at the uh the library, so he's just not answering any of my calls."

Jane silently chastised herself; she was a horrible liar, even to someone who was not as in tune with her heartbeat as Matt.

Tommy nodded, reluctant to believe Jane's poor excuse.

"Sure," he said, "You want a ride back home? I'd be happy to drop you off."

Jane shook her head, "Nah, I'll just let Foggy know I'm done and he'll come grab me, its fine."

Tommy lived on the other side of town, there was no way that Jane was going to inconvenience him just to make sure she got home ok.

Tommy threw his hands up in surrender, "Whatever you say Jane, I have a few things to finish up here, so just let me know when Foggy gets here so I can close up shop."

Jane smiled, "Thank's Tommy."

"Sure thing kiddo!" He called turning back to his office.

Jane pulled out her phone again and sighed, there were really only a few numbers on it, and there were only three in her frequent call list. She clicked Foggy's name hoping against hope that he was still awake and not deep in debt at Josie's.

He answered on the third ring.

"Foggy? I uh-" she cleared her throat, "I need a favor."

* * *

"Pour oh pour the pirate sherry fill, oh fill the pirate glass, and to make us more than merry," Foggy belted as he danced around his office, "Let the pirate bumper pass, for today our pirate 'prentice rises from indenture freed, strong his arm and keen his scent is, he's a pirate now indeed-"

"You know I'm still here, right?"

Foggy froze as Karen's voice came through the glass walls. He stumbled over some empty boxes as he grabbed his coat and opened the door, looking at Karen with a horrified look on his face.

"Could you...could you hear me just now?" he asked, knowing that with the volume level he had just been singing the entire block had heard him.

Karen smiled mischievously, "Nope."

Foggy perked up, a grin slowly spreading, "The correct answer is, 'yes and you sound amazing!'"

Karen shrugged, "Well off the two lies I took the lesser."

Foggy didn't even pretend to be offended, instead he watched her as she continued to unpack boxes. Boxes of what Foggy had no idea, they had only had these offices for a few days.

"I thought you went home," he said leaning against the door jam, "What are you still doing here?"

Karen raised an eyebrow, "Uh, I could ask you the same."

Foggy straightened up and used his best lawyer voice, "Yes, but I am a partner at a prestigious law firm with very important documents needing to be documented, so we can start generating some revenue, while you are..." his lawyer voice was failing as he looked very thoroughly at Karen's figure, "also very integral in you own special," he shifted as Karen began to laugh, "manager.." he sighed, "I dug myself in too deep an I can't clim out.

"You need a hand with that?"

"Please," Foggy asked.

"Oh!" Karen teased, "Not gonna happen."

Foggy's brows furrowed as Karen went back to organizing her desk, "Seriously, what are you still doing here?"

"I have work to do."

"What work?" Foggy scoffed, "We don't have any clients yet."

"Well," Karen said looking around the dismal office, "Your shit's not gonna unpack itself."

Foggy stepped forward and took a box out of Karen's hands and placed it on the desk.

"This box of vital import will be here in the morning," he looked at the young woman before him.

"You should be out having a life, doing poppers and flapper dancing," he said laughing, "I don't know what kids do these days."

Karen laughed, "We're the same age, Foggy."

"So you're saying I shouldn't be here, either?" he asked as if this seemed like new information to him.

Karen nodded, "Yeah."

Foggy shrugged, "Fair enough. But I'm awkward," he said addressing Karen as if she was a juror, "and unfashionable. Those things don't seem to apply to you."

Karen's smile fell, "I just don't feel like going home okay?"

Foggy nodded, knowing more than likely exactly why she didn't want to go home.

"Well, we can't stay here. Not enough money in the kitty to keep the lights on past midnight. So let's hop a few bars, not think about it," he offered.

"Yes," Karen said, her smile returning, "Big fan of the not thinking."

She grabbed her bag as a faint buzzing started from Foggy's pocket.

"You'll fit right in here," he said pulling his phone from his pocket.

"Hello," he answered listening to the phone brows furrowed, "Sure thing, be there in just a few."

Karen looked at Foggy, waiting an explanation.

Foggy put his phone back in his pocket, "Jane," he explained, "Mr. Smarty pants is studying some cases in the library so he forgot to pick her up from work."

Foggy moved towards the door, "Wait this is awesome!" he said catching Karen slightly off guard with his newfound enthusiasm.

"Jane knows all the good bartenders in town she can hook us up! YES!"

* * *

Jane pulled her jacket closer around her shoulders, "No Foggy, I'm not going to call Matt again!"

"Come on!" Foggy begged, "We're introducing Karen to _Josie's_ and I have high hopes its gonna go terribly, he needs to be here to bail me out!"

Jane shook her head with a bemused smile, "Let's go Foggy, I left him a message he'll come over when he can."

"You saved the best for last, huh?" Karen said stepping into the bar behind the two.

Foggy nodded proudly looking over the dingy bar as a father would look over his only son.

"Oh yeah," he agreed proudly, "This place is a shit hole."

The three made their way to the bar and plopped themselves down on three rather rickety stools.

"Its our shit hole though," Foggy continued looking over the bar at the line of bottles, "The city's tried to shut it down half a dozen times, but I helped Josie with the liens, and as a result, we get to drink for free!"

Josie, the older and slightly portly owner of the bar, rolled her eyes at Foggy's tactics, "You absolutely do not get to drink for free."

Jane mouthed a thank you when Josie passed over three glasses and a bottle of what Jane could see was whiskey, Foggy's favorite.

Foggy smirked, "Let's agree to disagree."

He poured a healthy amount in Karen's glass, "Thank you," she said blushing at the constant attention he was giving her.

Foggy poured a smaller portion in Jane's glass knowing that she hated to be drunk.

"Cheers!" Foggy said raising his glass with a ridiculous smile on his face.

Karen too a big sip while Jane watched the two out of the corner of her eye amused at how hard Karen was trying to keep up with Foggy.

"Oh-" Karen coughed, sputtering at the burn from the whiskey.

Josie just shook her head, "You could do so much better, love."

"Thank you Josie," Foggy sputtered, "But this is my employee for your information, and-"

He refilled both his and Karen's glasses.

"We are not on a date. Are we on a date?"

Jane laughed. Foggy was used to having to play wingman to Matt, even after Jane was in the picture. Attractive women, all women really, seemed to flock to Matt, it was like he was a magnet for the opposite sex. Not that it mattered, Matt's world did not exist beyond Jane.

"You want a beer sweetheart?" Josie asked Jane noticing the barely touched whiskey glass.

Jane nodded. Her wild partying days were over, since she left law school she had stopped drinking all together except on the rare occasion when Foggy and Matt decided to go out.

"No," Foggy defended, "You gaze at me lovingly when you think I'm not looking."

Both Karen and Jane laughed at Foggy's ridiculous daydream.

"What?" he said with mock hurt, "You might. How would I know? I'm not looking. Just let me live in it."

"Is there something in here?" Karen asked, her attention suddenly diverted by the strange object in the whiskey bottle.

Jane looked carefully at the bottle, "Oh Foggy!" she chastised, "At least start her off with something easy!"

Foggy only laughed and raised his glass, followed by a reluctant Karen, and drained it.

"Ah man," Foggy said, the effects of the alcohol slowly starting to take effect, "I've gotta pee. Josie! Keep an eye on these girls for me!"

Jane laughed and shoved Foggy playfully on the shoulder as he walked by.

She took a long sip from her beer and watched Karen with a careful eye.

"How are you holding up Karen?"

Karen shrugged, turning back to her drink, "Let's leave it alone."

"Sure," Jane shrugged, "Only sometimes its better if you just talk -"

"I can't get the blood out of the carpet," Karen blurted out, "Its like somebody spilled a wine bottle and it won't come...And a man broke into my apartment and tried to kill me. He dented the wall where he bashed my head into it. If that guy in the mask hand't have been there..."

Karen sighed as if a huge weight had been dropped from her shoulders. She reached a shaking hand out and downed the rest of her whiskey. Jane felt terrible for Karen. In a sick twist of events this perfectly normal woman had her entire life turned upside down.

"Listen Karen, I know its not going to sound like much but, trust me, you'll be ok, you will get through this," Jane paused, noticing that her words had little effect on the woman sitting beside her.

"It gets better, you learn to live with it."

Karen looked up at Jane, the once seemingly carefree woman now showed a deep sadness in her eyes. She bit her lip, trying very hard not to break down in the middle of the bar.

"I don't see the city anymore. All that I see are its," she looked around sizing each and every patron in the bar with a wary eye, "dark corners. I look around this room and all that I see are threats."

"Hey," Foggy said returning back to his seat, "This room?" he scoffed.

"These guys are harmless. Look," he slowly began pointing out each and every dangerous looking person, "that's Tom Belkin. He's the Road Captain in the Kitchen Hellions. He organizes the food drive every Thanksgiving. Thats Rob Donohue. His wife Mira? She works at the dry cleaner around the corner from our office. That's Clint Peterson. He...Okay, he is a criminal. He's done time for Larceny and distribution. But he's turning it around, and we are this close to getting his kids into Saint Agnes Daycare. Saint Agnes!"

Karen laughed, slightly more at ease as Foggy slowly dismissed each and every one of her fears.

"And this very bar, is were Matt met Jane!"

Jane smiled remembering that night very clearly, "Its true."

Karen smiled, "Okay, okay."

Foggy placed a hand on Karen's back, "You don't want to go home, you don't want to go home. We can stay out all night!"

Jane shook her head, her eyes wide with fear.

"Oh no! Foggy," Jane said, "the last time we did that, you and I almost got married, I need to go home. Besides,"

She finished a beer and paid for the rest of the group as she stood up and grabbed her coat and purse, "Matt's probably home sleeping, something I would really like to do as well."

Foggy pouted but he didn't argue. To be honest he was a little surprised that Jane had agreed to stay out as late as she had without Matt.

"All right, all right," Foggy said, waving goodbye to Josie, "Let's get you home."

Matt and Jane's apartment was really only just two blocks down the road from Josie's. Normally it would take only five minutes to get to the apartment building. However, with Jane corralling not only Foggy but Karen as well, it took a good twenty minutes before she was standing outside her apartment door fighting with Foggy to give her enough room to unlock the door.

"Matt!" Foggy yelled, "Matt, come on! Get up! I drank the eel!"

Karen laughed equally as drunk as Foggy, "Oh, no."

"Not a euphemism!" he sputtered both he and Karen laughing their heads off, "Matt I know you're in there, get up!"

"Foggy be quiet!" Jane hissed in a whisper, she loved Foggy, but sometimes, he was just too loud, "Fran is probably asleep!"

Foggy just shrugged, "You all set Jane?"

Jane pushed the door to the apartment open and turned on the light, "Yeah I'm good."

She turned back to Foggy and in her most stern voice said, "You be careful Foggy. Take good care of Karen."

Foggy only grinned like an idiot and pulled Karen's hand back down the stairs, "Come on! We're staying out till the sunrise! We're gonna go to the fish market!"

The last thing Jane heard before she closed her door was Foggy yelling back up the stairs that he was going to buy a bluefin.

Jane sighed as she face the open apartment. She most certainly was not all set. The apartment was empty. Matt was still not home.

* * *

Foggy pulled out his watch, "Ok we've got, what?" he squinted trying to make the numbers less blurry, "Two hours to kill. Let's brush you up on some Japanese auctioneering terms."

Karen shook her head as she stumbled slightly into Foggy. She hand't been this drunk on purpose in a while.

"You don't have to do this Foggy."

"Do what?" Foggy shrugged, "You haven't lived until you've argued with a 90-year-old Okinawa survivor about sturgeon meat."

Karen laughed and shook her head, "No, for staying out all night, I needed this."

Foggy shook his head, "It's no big deal, I used to do this all the time with Matt when Jane needed," Foggy paused.

Even in his altered state of mind, he knew that he probably should watch a little more carefully what he said.

"Well, its not really my place to say."

Karen watched Foggy carefully, she hand't been told exactly what had happened to Jane, but from their conversation earlier, Karen knew that it wasn't good. The effect of that one night hung like a shadow over the three friends no matter how hard they tried to ignore it.

"Well, thank you anyway," she continued, drawing the conversation away from Jane, "I _really_ needed this. But it's late, and we should go home."

Foggy's eyes widened dramatically, "Are you kidding me?"

Karen chuckled, "Yes!"

"After what you told me, I'm never going home again!" He looked back and forth down the street, his arms out as if to protect Karen from going to far, "Men are waiting in the dark corners of this world to prey on us."

Karen hid her face as a very deep blush began to work its way across her cheeks, "Oh God."

Foggy stepped forward and thrust his chest out, "The valiant, the kindhearted! We must band together! We must never sleep! We must remain vigilant! Here in the lights of Hell's kitchen."

He ended his monologue as if he had just recited Hamlets lines to be or not to be. Karen smiled, pulled Foggy's arm closer to her and placed her head on his shoulder. Foggy looked down at the young woman with a fond smile.

"Hmm," Karen mused, "Never sleep."

"The city will protect us!" Foggy continued his ridiculous monologue.

Karen giggled, content for once, mostly due to the vast quantity of liquor she had consumed that night.

"This city's beautiful."

"Yeah"

For the first time since the incident at her apartment, she really and truly felt that it was.

* * *

Jane was pacing. This was beyond Matt's normal late night disappearances. He didn't say goodbye, he always said goodbye.

She looked down at her phone. Nothing. Not a call, not a text, Matt was gone; somewhere in the city, he could be lying helpless and she was powerless to do anything to help him. She jabbed a button on her phone, it would be almost ten o'clock in Iraq, he should be able to answer his phone. It wasn't until the answering machine picked up and the short message played through the phone that she realized the cellphone that she was calling was nowhere near Iraq. It was most likely sitting in storage at Fort Benning, or some other random location.

Jane groaned in frustration and threw her phone down on the couch, plopping herself beside it. She looked at her watch again. Three thirty. It was three thirty and still no word from Matt. He had been gone for -

Jane froze when a giant thump sounded against the door. It wasn't the front door to the apartment. The top door, the door that lead to the roof, was shaking as someone from the other side fumbled to get in.

Was it locked? Jane wondered. Of course it was locked, Matt always made sure of it, especially if he knew she was going to be home along. Jane felt her stomach drop. When Matt was out in his suit, he always left the door open so that he could come back into the apartment without anyone seeing. Matt hand't been able to pick her up from the bakery which meant he had not been able to come home. The door was still unlocked.

Jane launched herself off the couch and ran to the kitchen grabbing the first thing that she could reach and hid behind the couch.

The door creaked open and Jane habitually reached into her back pocket for her phone.

"Shit!" she whispered almost inaudibly.

Her phone was sitting on the other side of the couch.

"Jane?" a raspy voice called out into the apartment.

Jane leapt up. A dark figure stood slightly hunched at the top of the stairs that lead into the living room. He was breathing heavily and his hand was holding on to his ribs as if to keep them from springing out of his chest.

"Matt!" Jane breathed rushing up the steps to great him, "Oh thank God."

She threw her arms around him not wanting to let him go in fear that he would disappear again.

Matt winced and gingerly held Jane so she did not irritate his wounds further. The flinch however did not go unnoticed by Jane who now took a step back and looked at Matt more closely.

"Geezus, Matt," she breathed, "What the hell happened to you?"

Matt shook his head and grimaced in an attempt to smile.

"Just a minor altercation between me and, a," He winced as he took the last step into the living room, Jane following close behind.

"Me and a knife," he clarified.

Jane's brows furrowed, "Sit down," she said softly.

Matt continued to limp into the living room towards the kitchen ignoring her request.

"Jane really, I'm-"

"Sit. Down."

Matt stopped in the middle of the room. It was no use, he just didn't have the heart to argue anymore, he had nothing left.

He slowly and gingerly eased himself onto the couch, not far from where Jane had just been sitting. She quietly walked over to him and kneeled down in front of him. Between the light from the giant billboard and the soft glow of the kitchen, every one of Matt's cuts and bruises was painfully clear. She ran her fingers over his cuts. For the most part, they were well stitched, though a few had pulled and dried blood surrounded the neat stitching. A few new cuts and scrapes had come up after Matt had managed to get himself fixed up.

Jane walked with purpose into the kitchen and pulled out a rather large first aid kid from under the sink. Matt pulled his mask off and tried to wipe the grime of the night from his face. He closed his eyes when Jane returned, breathing in the comforting scent of her shampoo.

"Jane, I swear I'm fine, I'm just tired I'll-"

"Matt please," Jane said, looking him in the eye.

He may not be able to technically see from his eyes, but that did not erase the feeling that every time Jane found herself staring into the deep brown eyes that Matt was able to see straight through to her soul.

"For once in your life, just let me take care of you," she continued, almost begging him to let her fix him.

Matt stopped protesting at the sound of her voice, the desperate pleading broke his heart. Jane carefully started cleaning the cuts that were not already taken care of, watching for any sign of discomfort that Matt showed. The apartment was silent, and yet almost echoing with the words that were left unspoken.

"What happened?" Jane asked too quiet for any normal human to hear and understand, yet she knew Matt could hear her plain as day.

Matt cleared his throat, there were things that he really didn't want to tell Jane, things that she would be a lot safer not knowing, but he could not bring himself to lie to her. Not to Jane.

"There was a boy," he started, his voice heavy as he slowly explained everything that had happened that night trying almost desperately to justify leaving Jane alone for the night.

"He was forced to watch as Russians beat his father before he was taken. I tried to save him then, I really tried, but they were waiting for me, it was an ambush."

By now Jane had finished as best she could, her nursing skills were certainly not as well developed as her cooking skills, yet with a boyfriend like Matt, she was able to patch up and get him back on his feet. Besides, someone had already done the hard part. She sat in a chair across the room, watching Matt carefully.

"A uh, a nurse found me in a," Mat stopped, perhaps Jane didn't have to know _every_ detail, she would worry too much.

"She found me and fixed me up, and I went back to get the boy, and brought him back to his father."

Matt listened to Jane, waiting for her to say something, "I saved him Jane, they would have killed him."

Jane nodded, slightly unable to speak. Until this point she thought Matt was simply helping random people, but this, this was personal.

"Matt," she said pulling her hair from her face, "why are you doing this? Why are you getting involved in the Russians? They have a Mafia for christ's sake, what do you think you're getting yourself into-"

"I'm sorry Jane, I'm really sorry."

Jane sighed, "Why was there an ambush? They wouldn't do something like that unless they wanted to get rid of you, what did you do to piss the Russians off Matt?"

Matt closed his eyes. He knew he had to tell her, there was no other way around it.

"When you, uh," his mind was traveling at lightning speed to a place he never wanted to see again, "When I knew you were going to be ok, after you woke up, I uh-"

He paused, this was harder for some reason than he thought. He worked so hard to keep the evil that had threatened his love as far away from her as possible, yet Jane had a right to know.

"I hunted down the men from the alley, and it led me to a trafficking ring," he could almost hear the blood drain from Jane's face, "I interrupted a shipment and pissed a couple people off."

He couldn't stop now, the words were tumbling from his mouth almost relieved that someone other than himself knew what he had discovered.

"The Russians kidnapped the boy knowing I would come running, Jane I couldn't let them take him."

Now it was Matt's turn to plead, willing Jane to understand why it was that he had to help, that he couldn't stand by and watch.

"And Claire, the nurse, I didn't tell her about you, or say anything that could put you in any danger if they start questioning-"

"Matt please," Jane said resting her head in her hands, it wasn't anything she was surprised about but Matt confessing everything that had been going on the past few weeks just made everything seem so real.

"I don't care what you told or what you didn't tell this Claire, I just want you to come home safe."

Matt waited ad she took a few moments to gather her thoughts.

"Jane," he said gently, moving to kneel down in front of her, "people in this city are getting hurt, someone is causing them pain, I have to help them."

"I'm just trying to make my city a better a place," he pleaded.

Jane nodded, Matt didn't miss the tears that had begun to pool in her eyes, "At what cost Matt? At what cost? What am I supposed to do if you don't come home? What do I-" she stopped unable to voice the fears that had been plaguing her all night.

"Hey," Matt soothed, wiping the tears from her cheeks, "I will always come back, maybe with a few extra bruises, but I will always come back for you."

Jane took a deep breath, "Always?"

Matt kissed her gently.

"Always."

* * *

 **Please Please Please let me know how you like it and if you have any questions!**


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